The most terrifying weapon facing the U.S. may already be in our enemies hands. Are you prepared for the ultimate disaster? In Part III of his three-part series, author Leo Wrobel explains exactly which systems would be affected by an electromagnetic pulse, how they would be affected, and to what degree.

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In Parts I and II of this series, we discussed how a single device exploded over the U.S. Midwest could generate an electromagnetic pulse that would destroy the whole U.S. power grid and virtually everything connected to it. Unlike other disasters, an EMP would affect almost the entire nation simultaneously, and flash us almost instantly back into a 19th-century economy. An EMP attack would wipe out computers and the Internet. There would be no electricity, perhaps for years. Emergency services would stop, and hospital operating rooms would close. In the ensuing chaos, most Americans would die from starvation in months.

Exactly which systems would be affected, how, and to what degree is the subject of this third and final article.

Critical Systems Support Life as We Know It

The physical fabric of the United States is sustained by an organization of systems operating in a complex network of interdependent infrastructures. The inter-relation of these systems enables the millions of actions, transactions, and information flows that enable the conduct of society. Recent disasters including 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the Japan earthquake of 2011 have underscored the vulnerability of these systems and infrastructures.